GB2484728A

GB2484728A - Monitoring and alerting arrangement for an elderly person living at home

Info

Publication number: GB2484728A
Application number: GB201017848A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Mark Christopher Bates
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-10-22
Filing date: 2010-10-22
Publication date: 2012-04-25
Also published as: GB201017848D0

Abstract

A monitoring arrangement is provided comprising a unit 1 which monitors the movement / lack of movement of an individual being cared for by means of a non-contact motion detector, and room temperature by means of a built in temperature probe 4. The unit 1 further includes an interface to connect a remote wired or wireless door switch; a rechargeable power supply to maintain the functionality of the unit if the main power has been cut or has failed; and a cellular wireless transmitter to allow alert to be communicated to a remote carer or support centre. The device may raise an alert when no movement is detected within a pre-programmed period; room temperature falls below or above pre-set levels; the individual is detected moving at night; the individualâ s external door is opened; or the mains power fails. The alert may be provided in the form of a text message or email. The alert may be provided directly to a carerâ s mobile phone.

Description

Multi-function, single-unit monitor with cellular based wireless alerts for remote care of vulnerable individuals within their home (figure 1, ref. 1)

Description

As the elderly population increases, there will be an ever increasing requirement for independent living or sheltered accommodation for this vulnerable sector of the community.

The problem with this is how best to ensure their welfare whilst retaining an acceptable degree of independence and dignity. From a safety perspective, ideally, the carer/relative would live-in or visit every day, however, this is not always manageable for the relative or economical for the local health authorities to provide this level of care.

Also, an individual often does not want to feel they are a burden or have too much obvious interference from outside.

Typical issues are falling over and subsequent inability to raise the alarm, death where individuals are not discovered, wandering' typically in dementia patients where they leave the home without carer's knowledge and the subsequent problem in locating them especially when there is a delay in receiving knowledge of their absence. Night wandering typically in dementia patients where carer/s is unaware they have risen from bed and thus puts themselves at risk as well as carer/s (if they are a live-in relative), temperature issues where heating has failed or individual is concerned aSout fuel bills and turns heating down to an unhealthy level. Alternatively, room temperature too high which could also cause health problems and knock on effect of high fuel bills.

The difficulties that exist for vulnerable individuals that need monitoring in their homes is how they go about raising the alarm when they are in trouble i.e. the responsibility is with the individual being monitored to raise the alarm when they need help. This is a problem when there is physical inability i.e. they have fallen or can't get up and can't reach the alert device such as a telephone or a panic button.

Mental inabilities in this age group, typically dementia patients, mean they may forget to carry their panic button, lose it or accidentally trigger it raising false alarms. Also some elderly people feel that visible products adorning their person such as pendants or wrist buttons stigmatize them and therefore become a symbol of frailty' Also, systems that only operate via landline telephones are dependant, firstly, upon the individual having a landline and secondly that they can reach the telephone if this is their method of raising an alarm.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 shows the care monitoring unit comprising of a non-contact movement detector and a cellular wireless device, temperature and power cut monitoring.

Figure 2 shows the receiving devices for reception of alerts from the cellular device shown in figure 1.

Figure 3 shows the additional wired or wireless devices which can be connected to the care monitoring unit shown in figure 1.

Figure 4 shows the positioning of the care monitoring device shown in figure 1 within a typical home.

Our invention solves all of the issues described as follows:-The unit (figure 1, ref. 1) will detect lack of movement by means of a non-contact motion sensor (figure 1, ref. 1 and figure 1, ref. 5) placed in an area of the home (figure 4, ref. 1 and figure 4, ref. 5) where we would expect an individual to be passing by to reach another part of the house i.e. between bedroom and toilet or between bottom of stairs and kitchen. For instance, the morning settings could be programmed to detect movement between Sam and lOam, lunchtime settings could be programmed to detect movement between 12pm and 3pm, evening movement between 7pm and 11pm. If no movement is detected at the end of these time periods, the unit initiates and sends a ring/text or email (figure 1, ref.

3) alert to one or number of carer/s via means of the wireless cellular network (figure 1, ref. 2) . This is completely passive so does not require any input from the monitored individual and therefore addresses the issue of physical or mental inability in raising the alarm or false triggering.

The problem of individuals leaving the home without the carer' s knowledge is known as wandering'. This is solved by the unit sending an instant alert when one of the exterior doors (figure 2, ref. B and figure 4, ref. B) is opened. The alert is sent directly to carer/s via means of the wireless cellular network in the form of text or email alert (figure 1, ref. 3) plus the added feature of a brief telephone ring to carer's mobile telephone to enable carer/s to react instantly without delay before monitored individual has wandered too far afield. Also, a door open delay timer feature is built into the unit where wandering' is not a main issue but the carer/s or even the individual being monitored may like to know if the exterior door is or has been left open accidentally for an unusual period of time.

Night wandering is addressed by means of the non-contact motion sensor (figure 1, ref. 1 and figure 1, ref. 5) detecting movement during adjustable night time periods. The alert is sent directly to the caret/s via means of the wireless cellular network (figure 1, ref 2) in the form of alert text or email (figure 1, ref 3) plus the added feature of an instant ring to carer/s to enable them to react instantly without delay preventing potential harm to the individual due to lack of supervision.

The built-in temperature probe (figure 1, ret. 4) monitors ambient room temperature and alerts carer/s by means of the wireless cellular network (figure 1, ref. 2) in the form of text or email alert (figure 1, ref. 3) plus the added feature of an instant ring to carer/s. Caret/s can then ascertain why individual has unusually high or low temperatures within the home and avoid prolonged periods that could cause damage to health.

Further to this, the unit has extra functionality as follows: It can also monitor its own power supply (figure 1, ref. 6) so that if power fails due to a mains power cut or the unit has been unplugged, it will operate from its internal rechargeable battery and alert carer/s by means of the wireless cellular network (figure 1, ref. 2) by way of text or email alert (figure 1, ref. 3) Our system alerts are sent directly to the cater's cellular mobile phone so they can respond instantly which eliminates delays. Some existing systems use call centre to manage the alert whereas our system does not require a call centre but can also send alerts to a managed call centre if required.

Using the email feature of the system, this enables an alert logging system giving recordable traceability of alerts.

Also, as the system has a motion sensor (figure 1, ref. 1) built in, it can be easily configured to act as a security system if the home is left unoccupied for a period of time.

Again it will send alerts by means of the wireless cellular network (figure 1, ref 2) in the form of text or email plus the added feature of an instant ring to warn recipients of intruders in individual's home.

The system comprises one small discreet base unit (figure 1, ref I and figure 4, ref. 1) mounted on a wall and one small wired or wireless (figure 3, ref. 7) door sensor (figure 3, ref. 8) . As the unit resembles standard home alarm sensors, this means that the monitored individual does not feel stigmatised by the presence of large pieces of traditional monitoring equipment ie brightly coloured or obvious panic buttons, pendants and pullstrings.

As the system is based on wireless cellular technology, it also overcomes any potential problems with telephone landline failures and overcomes the need to position traditional monitoring equipment at the the point where the landline enters the property. This area may not be accessible to the individual being monitored at the time they need to raise an alarm.